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Hi Friends,
I received the below info through an email and it got me thinking... Is it really a shame that we showed India in such poor light and received 3 trophies for it ??? Or is it just something that trouble makers are passing around to make sure we dont feel great about the awards???
Let me know your views and thoughts about this :)
3 Oscars for Indians - Read the other side story
Yes, indeed it is a matter of pride for us as 3 Indians won 3 Oscar awards . But at what cost? When we look at the other side of the coin, I feel what we lost is more than what we won. (Please read it completely)
It is film by foreigners about the story of Indians and the only exception is A R Rahman .
Directed by Danny Boyle
Produced by Christian Colson
Written by Simon Beaufoy
Music by A. R. Rahman
Cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle
Editing by Chris Dickens
Budget $15 million
Gross revenue $159,226,072
The film portrays the poverty in India and shown to the world how the life lead by the children in slums. Pre Independence Britishers equaled Indians with dogs by saying "Dogs and Indians not allowed" into a restaurant. Even after 50 years of Indian Independence these western people call the children in our slums as "dogs". They made good money making fun of India at International level. There are many humiliating scenes in the movie which will make us feel ashamed, like:
* The children posing as guides at Taj Mahal and cheating the tourists
* The children working in hotel refills the Mineral water bottle and cheating the customers
* Pick pocketing, stealing and reselling tourist footwear
* Grounding a car of a foreign tourist
* Training and employing the children for street begging
* Making a child blind to make him an impact beggar
* Training and pushing young girls into brothel house
* Children becoming criminals at the age they don't know what is life
* Host of the game suspecting the knowledge of a slum boy and trying to mislead the participant
Hollywood journalist called Slumdog as "Poverty p*rn" What impact will this have on India amongst the audience of western world? What do the children in slums learn from this film?
It is rightly mentioned in Amitabh's blog : "if Slumdog Millionaire projects India as Third World dirty under belly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky under belly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations ." Bachchan also states: "It's just that the Slumdog Millionaire idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not."
If we had won an Oscars for a film like Lagaan in which we throwed out Britishers from our country by defeating them in their own game, every Indian would have been really proud. The Academy did not found Lagaan good for an award but for Slumdog Millionaire .
It really very shameful that only one side of the coin has been projected (that too in exaggerated way) for that academy gave away the oscar to the film.
I dont recollect the name but someone has pointed out, that OSCARS are not the International Awards,
they are just like Filmfare in India!!
Priya, though 3 oscars wouldnt had came to India, the COST was been paid...!
Now it is our (INDIANs) matter of decision, WE VALUE WHAT???
Rgds
KK
I fully agree that those points/scenes made us feel ashamed , but the reality is no different. Its happening day in and day out.
Are we ashamed to see the reality faced by those living in slums?
can we deny that its not happening at all?
We are more concerned that its been viewd internationally. We should have been more concerned about doing something to change it.
We should have tried to make things so good that no foreigner would ever get a chance to potray us in such a bad light.
I fully agree that those points/scenes made us fe... See Ayesha's complete reply
Ayesha,
You too will, agree that whatever shown in SM is not the Real India!
was it the only thing about India, what could have been shown to the entire world!
Have you ever seen any foreign film showing Problems of poor people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, african cuontries with a view to address it globally!!
They could nae done this also no!!
Problems are everywhere in USA also why not find THEIR DOGS there only!!
They May get ULTRA DEVELOPED DOGS!!
Rgsd
KK
I fully agree that those points/scenes made us fe... See Ayesha's complete reply
Hi Ayesha!
I appreciate your comments and we have to learn a lesson from this.Why can't we change this and make it as a beautiful place like elsewhere?Very true and with this kind of political system and bureaucratic hurdles we are unable to do anything and every day the economical differences getting wider with rich becoming richer and poor becoming poorer.It continues forever and we may have to see a lot of Slumdog Millionnaires in future until there is awareness among people.
Anyhow thanks for your wonderful comments.
Cheers!
Pradeep
I fully agree that those points/scenes made us fe... See Ayesha's complete reply
Ayesha,
You too will, agree that whatever shown in SM is not the Real India!
w... See Kamlakar's complete reply
Hi Kamlakar,
I can understand your anguish and feelings.Any movie will be made only keeping in mind the millions its going to make and it is a business and they have capitalised on our weaknesses and made a very good business.The awards are just a bonus to boost the revenues.
Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and a lot many others also made similar films but they got confined only to India whereas now it was brought on to the international arena in the form of this "Slumdog Millionnaire"by adding some attractions.
Moreover the Government should be blamed for giving permission to make this film which is nothing but exploitation.
Cheers!
Pradeep
Yes Govt. would have done something (rather Much More) to prevent such publicity of the nation!!
Frankly speaking, It wasnt hidden from the concerned people, (BOTH CIVIL and CENSSOR members)!!
You have rightly said, ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY PART OF IT!!
WE have made it a SUCCESSFULL MOVIE!!!
Rgds
KK
Thank you for posting this, but I really cannot understand why there's so much fuss about this. There are planty of movies made in Bollywood which have projected the same scenarios; poor people trained to beg on the streets; children involved in violence; lives in the slums; street chlidren cheating with foreigners/ people ans so on.
I'm sure most of us HAVE SEEN these bollywood movies sometime or the other.
The only reason why people putting negative remarks for this particular movie is because it has not been Directed and/ or Produced by a local person.
What would people have remarked if "traffic signal" (a Hindi movie) won 3 orcars?
Almost all famous bollywood directors promote these type of movies overseas. People belonging to western countries already have an image which has been created by bollywood film directors doing anything to be famous.
This movie has been inspired by the novel "Q and A" which was written by an Indian author Vikas Swarup and the only objection the writer had about this movie was the tittle "Slumdog".
I certainly agree to the views saying the wrong picture presented but we must also decline local directors who have freely been projecting to the world such an image of our country.
We conquered that....but what followed?
The whole world heard about Romania. A lot of movies were made. What could we see in those movies?
The poverty, the large number of orphan children Romania had, the trivial language, the common worker stealing from the company and wasting time just that his daily working programm ends and he gets the check, the gipsies, the poor, dirty villages.
Those movies received a lot of trophees, a lot of money have been made. On one hand I agreed, it was a form of art.....but as the majority of Romanians I was outraged we are seeing in this subjective manner. We were shown as selling our children on the streets to foreigners, begging, stealing....
World community "was touched" by all those people with disabilites they saw, all those poor orphans... It were much less than in their own countries.
World community wanted to appeal to UN for the rights of the minorities, of unpriviledged children or people.
It was one face of the reality, the ugly face, showing 5% of what was in Romania, no worse or better than in any other country and that 5% was much exagerated.
I have tried for years in my trips to Europe, to make my foreign friends change the way they saw my country, show them its beauty, its traditions, people's education, to balance that image...
Now, years after, I realized that who wants to be objective, who really wants to know how reality really looks in a country, can easily be informed.
Some might make money doing these kind of movies, some might make art, some might want to point out some huge discrepancies...
I know that I found out how beautiful and complex India is, I have read about its history, I admire its traditions, that national pride, I have met wonderful Indians and I know India is much more than what they have shown in one movie...
And I know I am not the only one knowing it...
IMHO, no matter what the motive of the film makers was, this movie doesn't deserve patronage by Indians.
If you haven't seen the movie, I strongly recommend you DON'T see it. Despite the hype and rags to riches inspiration it tried to present, there are several bad-for-the-soul scenes.
This is not to demean AR Rehman's talent though. I love his music and have great respect for him.
Incidentally, I watched two movies on the same day, first watched the SDM, took a 30-minute break, and then watched the movie Mystic India.
What a paradox! While SDM shown India in such poor light, Mystic India highlighted India's mystical secrets, fascinations, wealth of wisdom, culture, and spirituality in almost life-size visuals.
Mystic India is a must watch!! You can find out more about it here:
http://www.mysticindia.com
RK
Thanks RK!
for your valuable response!!
KK
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